Determining matches using dynamic provider eligibility model

ABSTRACT

Embodiments provide techniques, including systems and methods, for determining matches of requestors and providers based on a dynamic provider eligibility model. For example, a request matching model uses an estimated arrival time for a requestor and estimated travel times for available providers to a pickup location to determine eligible providers for matching to a ride request. The matching model determines those providers that are far enough away from the request location to allow the requestor time to arrive at the pickup location without matching providers that are too far away, causing delay for the requestor and lowering the efficiency of the system by taking provider system resources from other service areas and increasing provider downtime upon matching. Additionally, embodiments provide more efficient matching processing leading to fewer canceled matched requests, fewer requests for a successful match, and fewer system resources necessary to meet requestor demand.

BACKGROUND

Traditionally, people have requested and received services at fixedlocations from specific service providers. For example, various serviceswere fulfilled by making a delivery to a user at a home or worklocation. Many services can now be accessed through mobile computingdevices and fulfilled at arbitrary locations, often by service providersthat are activated on demand. Such on-demand service offerings areconvenient for users, who do not have to be at fixed locations toreceive the services. Additionally, on-demand service matching systemsmay select and provide requests to service providers based on thelocation and status of service providers near a request location.Accordingly, on-demand matching systems may monitor system resources andcontrol efficient resource allocation based on demand-matching betweenrequestors and providers distributed through a geographic area. However,as such services have become more prevalent, and more users areinteracting with such services, it can be difficult to identify andmatch available providers to requestors where both the providers andrequestors are moving to non-fixed locations or are otherwise notimmediately available for a match. For example, providers that areclosest to a request location may arrive far before a requestor is readyfor a service. This leads to inefficient resource allocation as theearly matching of providers and requestors at a request location beforea provider is prepared for a service leads to delay, canceled requestsby providers, and duplicated requests by requestors.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure will bedescribed with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a ride matching system including amatched provider and requestor, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent techniques;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a ride matching system environmentwhere a request associated with a request location may be matched withone of a variety of available providers, in accordance with anembodiment of the present techniques;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a ride matching system environmentwhere a request is matched to providers according to estimated arrivaltimes to a request location, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent techniques;

FIGS. 4A-4B illustrate example dynamic models based on travel time for arequestor and providers to a request location, in accordance with anembodiment of the present techniques;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example block diagram of a ride matching system,in accordance with an embodiment of the present techniques;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram of a method for matching arequest with a provider based on a dynamic model, in accordance withembodiments of the present techniques;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example requestor/provider management environment,in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example data collection and application managementsystem, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIGS. 9A-9C illustrates an example provider communication device inaccordance with various embodiments; and

FIG. 10 illustrates an example computer system, in accordance withvarious embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, various embodiments will be described. Forpurposes of explanation, specific configurations and details are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments.However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that theembodiments may be practiced without the specific details. Furthermore,well-known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscurethe embodiment being described.

On-demand services that are accessed through mobile devices are becomingmore prevalent. However, due to the distributed and portable nature ofproviders and requestors being matched by an on-demand matching system,matching providers and requestors efficiently can be difficult due todelay of a requestor and the proximity of both the requestor and theproviders to a request location. For example, a requestor may be in ahigh rise building and it may take 5 minutes to travel through heavyelevator traffic to get to the street level. The requestor may request aride and be matched with a provider that is 1 minute away. As such, theprovider may arrive far earlier than the requestor and may have to waitor circle the block multiple times until the requestor arrives at therequest location. As another example, the requestor may be scheduling aride at a different location than they are currently located at in orderto avoid a busy area and/or because they have to pick something up inthe area before getting the ride. As such, the requestor may request apick up at a location that is 7 minutes away and/or may request a rideat that location at a given time (e.g., 10 minutes from now). If theprovider is matched with the closest available provider, the providermay have to wait 7-9 minutes before the requestor arrives. Providerdowntime is problematic because it reduces ride system resources in anarea and leads to lower utilization of the provider. Accordingly, thedifficulty in matching requests with providers using time-basedestimates instead of geographic-based estimates leads to mismanagementof provider resources as well as increased data processing and systemcommunications. For instance, providers may cancel a matched requestwhere the requestor is not present at the pickup location so that theydo not have so much downtime waiting on a requestor. Thus, requestorsmust place more requests in order to obtain a ride as one or morematched requests are canceled before the requestor is ready to be pickedup. Accordingly, more requests may be generated and processed by amatching service, more accepted, rejected, and declined requests must beprocessed by the requestor and provider devices, and more systemresources must be expended for a matched ride to be successfullycompleted.

For example, traditionally in ride matching environments that allowdrivers and riders to be matched through a mobile application on theirsmart phones, it can be difficult to identify when a requestor is goingto be ready for a ride. This can lead to providers canceling requests asit takes too long for the driver to wait for the rider to be availableat the request location. As such, providers may cancel the ride requestin order to wait for a new request that will not have downtime. However,the requestor may also request a new ride which can lead to increasedsystem resources usage as more requests are required to fulfill the samerider demand.

Embodiments provide techniques, including systems and methods, fordetermining matches based on dynamic provider eligibility models. Forexample, a matching model uses an estimated arrival time for a requestorand estimated travel times for available providers to a pickup locationto determine eligible providers for matching to a ride request. Thematching model determines those providers that are far enough away fromthe request location to allow the requestor time to arrive at the pickuplocation without matching providers that are too far away, leading todelay for the requestor and lowering the efficiency of the system. Forexample, if providers are matched from too far away, matching will leadto slower pickups and will take away system resources from other areas,decreasing system efficiency. Accordingly, embodiments filter availableproviders to match to a request to those providers that will increasethe efficiency of the system and optimize the matching system's requestmatching processing to minimize the number of requests that will requiresystem resources to process.

Additionally, embodiments may use predicted provider availability todetermine whether to match an eligible provider to a request or to delaythe match to obtain a more efficient future match. Accordingly,embodiments provide efficient matching of requestors and providers bymatching arrival times between providers and requestors as well asminimizing driving time of providers across the system. Further, by moreefficiently matching requestors and providers using the specificlocation of the requestor computing device and limiting delays inproviding services to requestors, embodiments limit the use of systemresources for unnecessary canceled ride requests and the issuance of newride requests as well as the lost downtime and increased throughput ofproviders. This results in more efficient processing of request by thematching system, leading to fewer system resources necessary to handle aride request load and an amount of requestor demand in an area.Accordingly, request matching systems are improved through the moreefficient matching processing and fewer resources are required toprocess the same amount of requestor demand.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a ride matching system 130 including amatched provider 140A and requestor 110A, in accordance with anembodiment of the present techniques. The ride matching system 130 maybe configured to communicate with both the requestor computing device120 and the provider computing device 150. The provider computing device150 may be configured to communicate with a provider communicationdevice 160 that is configured to easily and efficiently displayinformation to a provider 140 and/or a requestor 110. The requestor 110may use a ride matching requestor application on a requestor computingdevice 120 to request a ride at a specified pick-up location. Therequest may be sent over a communication network 170 to the ridematching system 130. The ride request may include transport requestinformation that may include, for example, a request location, anidentifier associated with the requestor and/or the requestor computingdevice, user information associated with the request, a location of therequestor computing device, a request time (e.g., a scheduled ride mayhave a future time for the request to be fulfilled or an“instant/current” time for transportation as soon as possible), and/orany other relevant information to matching transport requests withtransport providers as described herein. The request location mayinclude, for example, a current location, a future location, a “bestfit/predictive” location, a curb segment, or any other suitableinformation for indicating a location for a requestor to be found at thecurrent time or in the future. In some embodiments, the transportrequest may further include other request related information including,for example, requestor transport preferences (e.g., highway vs.side-streets, temperature, music preference (link to 3^(rd) party musicprovider profile, etc.), personalized pattern/color to display onprovider communication device, etc.) and requestor transportrestrictions (e.g., pet friendly, child seat, wheelchair accessible,etc.).

The requestor computing device may be used to request services (e.g., aride or transportation, a delivery, etc.) that may be provided by theprovider 140A. The provider computing device may be used to contactavailable providers and match a request with an available provider.However, it may be difficult for the ride matching system to identifywhich provider to match with the request because the requestor may notbe immediately available and/or present at the request location. Forexample, a requestor may not be ready to leave yet and/or may not bepresent at the request location when they request the ride. Accordingly,if the request was matched with the closest available provider, theprovider may arrive at the request location far too soon and may have towait for the requestor to be ready. Thus, embodiments provide a solutionthat allows a ride matching system to efficiently match providers with arequest using estimated travel times of both the requestor and theproviders in the area to ensure the most efficient matching leading tothe least amount of provider downtime and the most possible throughputby the ride matching system.

The ride matching system (also referred to as a “dynamic transportationmatching system”) 130 may identify available providers that areregistered with the ride matching system 130 through an application ontheir provider communication device 150A. The ride matching system 130may send the ride request to a provider communication device 150A andthe provider 140A may accept the ride request through the providercommunication device 150A. Additionally and/or alternatively, in someembodiments, the provider may be predictively and/or automaticallymatched with a request such that the provider may not explicitly acceptthe request. For instance, the provider may enter a mode where theprovider agrees to accept all requests that are sent to the providerwithout the ability to decline and/or review requests before accepting.In either case, the provider computing device may return informationindicative of a match indicating that the provider received thetransport request. For example, the information indicative of a matchmay include a provider accept indicator (e.g., a flag) that indicatesthe provider received and accepts the indicator or could include avariety of different information. For example, the informationindicative of a match may include location information, other routeinformation for other passengers in the vehicle, a schedule for theprovider providing information regarding future availability (e.g., whenthey are going to go offline), diagnostics associated with the car(e.g., gas level, battery level, engine status, etc.), and/or any othersuitable information. The provider 140A and the requestor 110A may bematched and both parties may receive match information associated withthe other respective party including requestor information (e.g., name,representative symbol or graphic, social media profile, etc.), providerinformation (e.g., name, representative symbol or graphic, etc.),request location, destination location, respective computing devicelocation, rating, past ride history, any of the other transport requestinformation and/or provider acceptance information identified above,and/or any other relevant information for facilitating the match and/orservice being provided. Thus, the ride matching system 130 maydynamically match requestors and providers that are distributedthroughout a geographic area.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a ride matching system environment 200where a requestor computing device 120 associated with a requestlocation 123 may be matched with one of a variety of available providers140 associated with provider computing devices 150, in accordance withan embodiment of the present techniques. As can be seen in FIG. 2, theenvironment 200 may have multiple available provider computing devices150A-150H in the area surrounding the requestor computing device 120 andthe request location 123. However, the requestor may not be availableimmediately at the request location 123. For example, as shown by thenavigation route 125, the requestor may be located in a building 122with multiple levels and may have to travel to a particular requestlocation where the requestor is going to be picked up. As such, therequestor may not arrive at the request location 123 for some period oftime (e.g., 10 minutes). However, there are multiple provider computingdevices traveling throughout the area and it can be difficult for thematching system to identify which provider to match with the request.For example, provider computing device 150A has already passed a turn toget to the request location 123 and although the provider computingdevice is closest to the request location 123, it may take the providercomputing device 150A longer to get to the location than the proximityto the request location 123 may indicate. Further, the providercomputing device 150B may arrive far too early if matched with therequest. If matched, the provider computing device 150B may be forced tofind parking, create a safety hazard by stopping in the middle of thestreet, and/or circle the block while the provider waits for therequestor 120 to arrive.

Additionally, there are multiple other provider computing devices150C-150H in the area that may or may not be good matches for therequest. However, it may be difficult for the ride matching system toidentify the best match due to the uncertainty regarding where theprovider may be located when the requestor is available at the requestlocation 123. Accordingly, proximity to the request location 123 alonecannot be used to identify matches for the request as it may lead tolong inefficient wait times by providers and/or not incorporate otherrequests, system load, system bandwidth, and system efficiency into thematching process.

Similarly, in some embodiments, the requestor may also want to request aride for a specific time (e.g., scheduled for 10 minutes delay, etc.)and may not be ready to step out of the building until that time. Assuch, the requestor may enter that pickup time in the requestorapplication and the arrival time may be indicated as the scheduled timefor pickup. Accordingly, even for request locations in close proximityto the requestor computing device, a delay may be determined for arequest such that the closest provider is not a good match for arequest.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a ride matching system environment 300where a request is matched to providers 140A-140H through providercomputing devices 150A-150H according to estimated arrival times to arequest location 123, in accordance with an embodiment of the presenttechniques. As can be seen in FIG. 3, the ride matching system candetermine navigation routes 155A-155H for each of the provider computingdevices 150A-150H to travel to the request location 123 and estimatetravel times for each of the navigation routes to determine eligibleproviders for the request. Accordingly, the ride matching system maydetermine an estimated arrival time for each of the providers and usethe estimated arrival time to select and/or better match requestorarrival times with provider travel times. Each of the navigation routes155A-155H for each of the provider computing devices 150A-150H may havea calculated estimated travel time to the request location 123 that mayrange from very short (e.g., 1 minute) to long (e.g., 30 minutes). Theprovider computing devices 150A-150H may only include those providersthat are “available” meaning that they have at least one seat open to bepotential matches with the request. Further, in some embodiments, therequest may have further criteria that limit the number of availableproviders for the request. For example, car seats, pet friendly, and/orparticular sizes or types of vehicles may be used to limit the number of“available” providers for the request. Additionally, the estimatedtravel times may incorporate traffic, weather conditions, mode oftransportation, and/or any other conditions that may affect the speed inwhich a provider may arrive at the request location 123.

FIGS. 4A-4B illustrate example dynamic models based on travel times fora requestor computing device 120 and provider computing devices 150 to arequest location 123, in accordance with an embodiment of the presenttechniques. FIG. 4A shows a dynamic provider eligibility model 400A thatmaps provider travel times for the available providers 150A-150H relatedto the request of FIGS. 2-3. The dynamic provider eligibility model 400Ais defined by a torus/donut shape where the radius of the internalcircle of the model is determined by an estimated arrival time for therequestor to arrive at the request location 410A. Any providers withinthe inner circle of the donut may not be eligible for the passengerrequest. The radius of the outer circle of the donut shape may bedetermined by a travel time threshold 430A (e.g., maximum distanceand/or travel time) from the request location. An eligible provider zone420A may be defined by the inner and outer circles to include onlyproviders that have estimated travel times that are greater than therequest arrival time but less than the travel time threshold.

However, as can be seen in FIG. 4A, there may not be any eligibleproviders within the eligible provider zone upon the receiving of therequest. Accordingly, the ride matching system may monitor the status ofthe requestor and update the radius of the requestor arrival time overtime as the requestor gets closer to being available. As such, the modelis dynamic such that as the requestor moves closer to the requestlocation and/or as the scheduled request time approaches, the diameterof the inner circle becomes smaller, leading to more eligible providersfor matching. For example, as shown in FIG. 4B, the requestor arrivaltime as changed to a smaller amount of time such that the eligibleprovider zone 420B is much larger than the eligible provider zone 420Aof FIG. 4A. As can be seen in FIG. 4B, the same providers that werepreviously not eligible to be matched in FIG. 4A, are now eligible dueto the shrinking of the requestor arrival time. Accordingly, providercomputing devices 150C, 150E, and 150H are all eligible for matchingwith the request. The ride matching system may then determine which ofthe eligible available providers to match with based on other factorssuch as, existing route being traveled by the provider, provider rating,earliest arrival time, latest arrival time, and/or any other relevantinformation.

Moreover, in some embodiments, the ride matching system may delaymatching with an eligible provider where the requestor arrival time islong enough that better matching providers may become available beforethe requestor arrives at the request location. For example, in someembodiments, the ride matching system may determine a predictedavailable provider estimate for the request location and use thepredicted available provider estimate to determine whether a matchshould be made now or to delay matching. For instance, some areas mayhave a large number of providers dropping off requestors regularly whichwill provide additional available providers within an eligible providerzone of the dynamic model over time. As such, the ride matching systemmay obtain a predicted available provider estimation based on currentride progress to the surrounding areas within the eligible provider zoneof the dynamic model as well as a rate of new providers logging on inthe area. Accordingly, embodiments may allow the ride matching system topredict other potential providers that may become available before therequestor arrival time is met and thus, allow for other providers tobecome available before matching with the first possible eligibleprovider. Accordingly, in some embodiments, ride request matching may beheld to maximize system efficiency by minimizing drive distance andtravel time for providers as more providers become eligible as thepassenger travels closer to the request location.

Further, although not shown in FIG. 4B, the provider computing devices150A-150H may move position and thus, their corresponding travel timesmay change between the determination of the first eligibility model 400Aand the second eligibility model 400B. Accordingly, those providers thatare outside the travel time threshold in the first eligibility model400A but that are traveling toward the request location 123 may moveinto the provider eligibility zone for the second eligibility model400B. Similarly, those providers that are within the providereligibility zone 420A in the first eligibility model 400A may move outof the provider eligibility zone 420B of the second eligibility model400B. Thus, the ride matching system may track and monitor the traveltimes of the available providers over time and match the providers thatare within the provider eligibility zone 420B when the efficiency of thesystem determines that such a match is appropriate. Travel times changesand direction of travel of the various providers may be analyzed andincorporated into the predicted available provider estimation as well.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example block diagram 500 of a ride matchingsystem 130, in accordance with an embodiment of the present techniques.As described above, the ride matching system 130 may identify andfacilitate request matching from requestors 110 associated withrequestor computing devices 120 with available providers 140 associatedwith provider computing devices 150. The ride matching system 130 mayinclude a requestor interface 131, a provider interface 132, and a ridematching module 133 including a travel tie estimation module 134, and aprovider selection module 135. The ride matching system 130 may alsoinclude a requestor information data store 136A, a provider informationdata store 136B, a historical ride data store 136C, and a navigationdata store 136D which may be used by any of the modules of the ridematching system 130 to obtain information in order to perform thefunctionality of the corresponding module. The ride matching system 130may be configured to communicate with a plurality of requestor computingdevices 120 and a plurality of provider computing devices 150. Althoughthe ride matching system 130 is shown in a single system, the ridematching system 130 may be hosted on multiple server computers and/ordistributed across multiple systems. Additionally, the modules may beperformed by any number of different computers and/or systems. Thus, themodules may be separated into multiple services and/or over multipledifferent systems to perform the functionality described herein.

Although embodiments may be described in reference to ride requests, anynumber of different services may be provided through similar request andmatching functionality. Accordingly, embodiments are not limited to thematching of ride requests and one of ordinary skill would recognize thatembodiments could be implemented for any number of different servicesthat have requestors and providers being matched through a network ofconnected computing devices.

The requestor interface 131 may include any software and/or hardwarecomponents configured to send and receive communications and/or otherinformation between the ride matching system 130 and a plurality ofrequestor computing devices 120. The requestor interface 131 may beconfigured to facilitate communication between the ride matching system130 and the requestor application 121 operating on each of a pluralityof requestor computing devices 120. The requestor interface 131 may beconfigured to periodically receive ride requests, location information,a request location (also referred to as a “pick-up” location), requestorstatus information, a location of the requestor computing device,progress toward a request location by the requestor computing device,and/or any other relevant information from the requestor computingdevice 120 when the requestor application 121 is active on the requestorcomputing device 120. The ride request may include a requestoridentifier, location information for the requestor computing device 120,a pick-up location for the ride request, one or more destinationlocations, a pick-up time, and/or any other suitable informationassociated with providing a service to a requestor. The ride request maybe sent in a single message or may include a series of messages. Theride matching module 133 may receive the ride request and update ahistorical ride data store 136C with the ride request information.

Additionally, the requestor interface 131 may be configured to send ridematch messages, location information for the provider computing device,provider information, travel routes, pick-up estimates, trafficinformation, requestor updates/notifications, and/or any other relevantinformation to the requestor application 121 of the requestor computingdevice 120. The requestor interface 131 may update a requestorinformation data store 136A with requestor information received and/orsent to the requestor, a status of the requestor, a requestor computingdevice location, and/or any other relevant information.

A requestor computing device 120 may include any device that isconfigured to communicate with a ride matching system 130 and/orprovider computing device 150 over one or more communication networks170. The requestor computing device 120 may comprise a processor, acomputer-readable memory, and communication hardware and/or software toallow the requestor computing device 120 to communicate over one or morecommunication networks 170. For example, a requestor computing device120 may include a mobile phone, a tablet, a smart watch, a laptopcomputer, a desktop computer, and/or any other suitable device having aprocessor, memory, and communication hardware. In some embodiments, therequestor computing device 120 may include a requestor application 121that is configured to manage communications with the ride matchingsystem 130 and interface with the user (i.e., requestor) of therequestor computing device 120. The requestor application 121 may allowa user to request a ride, monitor the status of a matched ride, pay fora ride, monitor past rides, perform any other requestor-orientedservices related to the ride matching system 130, and/or obtain anyother requestor-oriented information from the ride matching system 130.

The provider interface 132 may include any software and/or hardwareconfigured to send and receive communications and/or other informationbetween the ride matching system 130 and a plurality of providercomputing devices 150. The provider interface 132 may be configured toperiodically receive location information of the provider computingdevice 150, provider status information, and/or any other relevantinformation from the provider computing device 150 when the providerapplication 151 is active on the provider computing device 150.Additionally, the provider interface 132 may be configured to send riderequests, location information of a requestor computing device 120,pick-up locations, travel routes, pick-up estimates, trafficinformation, provider updates/notifications, and/or any other relevantinformation to the provider application 151 of the provider computingdevice 150. The provider interface 132 may update a provider informationdata store 136B with provider information received and/or sent to theprovider, a status of the provider, a provider computing devicelocation, and/or any other relevant information.

A provider computing device 150 may include any computing device that isconfigured to communicate with a ride matching system 130 and/orprovider computing device 150 over one or more communication networks170. The provider computing device 150 may comprise a processor, acomputer-readable memory, and communication hardware and/or software toallow the provider computing device 150 to communicate over one or morecommunication networks 170. For example, a provider computing device 150may include a mobile phone, a tablet, a smart watch, a laptop computer,a desktop computer, and/or any other suitable device having a processor,memory, and communication hardware. In some embodiments, the providercomputing device 150 may include a provider application 151 that isconfigured to manage communications with the ride matching system 130and interface with the user of the provider computing device 150. Theprovider application 151 may allow a user to accept a ride request,monitor the status of a matched ride, obtain or generate navigationdirections or a mapped route for a matched ride, get paid for a ride,monitor past rides, perform any other provider-oriented services relatedto the ride matching system 130, and/or obtain any otherprovider-oriented information from the ride matching system 130.

The ride matching module 133 may include a software module that isconfigured to process ride requests, ride responses, and othercommunications between requestors and providers of the ride matchingsystem 130 to match a requestor and a provider for a requested service.For example, the ride matching module 133 may be configured to identifyavailable providers for a ride request from a requestor by identifying ageographic region associated with the pick-up location and may search aprovider information data store 136B to identify available providerswithin a predetermined distance of the pick-up location and/or thegeographic region.

The ride matching module 133 may include a travel time estimation module134 and a provider selection module 135 that are configured to allow theride matching module to perform efficient matching using the dynamicmodel described herein. For example, when the ride matching module 133receives the request, the ride matching module may pass the requestinformation including the request location, the request time, therequestor identifier, the location of the requestor, and/or any otherrelevant information to the travel time estimation module 134. Thetravel time estimation module 134 may identify available providers inthe geographic area around the request location. The travel timeestimation module 134 may use a threshold distance (e.g., 10 miles, 15miles, etc.), one or more zip codes or other geographic identifiers(e.g., streets, blocks, neighborhoods, city, region, etc.), or any othersuitable geographic limitation to identify available providers relevantto a request location. For example, the travel time estimation module134 may search the provider information data store 136B to identify anyavailable providers that are located within a certain distance from therequest location. The travel time estimation module 134 may also limitthe search for available providers to those that meet ride requestcriteria such that the available provider can serve the request. Forexample, whether a provider vehicle is a sedan, luxury, SUV, or othertype of car, has a particular type of feature or amenity (e.g., carseat, dog friendly, etc.), has a number of available seats (e.g.,request for 2 people, etc.), and/or may use any other stored informationat the ride matching system to limit available providers to those thatcan serve the request.

Once the travel time estimation module 134 identifies the availableproviders in the area, the travel time estimation module 134 maycalculate an estimated travel time for each of the providers from theircurrent location to the request location. As discussed above, the traveltime estimation module 134 may incorporate traffic, weather, roadclosures, and/or any other conditions that may affect travel time intothe estimation. The travel time estimation module 134 may use historicalride data that is relevant for the time of day, streets and geographicregion, as well as stored previous rides over those times, areas, roadconditions, and/or any other information to obtain an estimate for theprovider to travel from their current location to the request location.For example, the travel time estimation module 134 may be configured toobtain the location of each of the provider computing devices. Thetravel time estimation module 134 may be configured to identify therequest location and map navigation routes for each of the providers andtravel time estimates for the requestor to the request location. Thetravel time estimation module 134 may calculate an estimated time ofarrival for a variety of different routes based on navigationinformation obtained from a navigation data store 136D. The navigationinformation may include real-time and historical traffic information,historical travel time information, known routes for a geographic areaor region, traffic rules, and/or any other suitable information formapping and/or identifying potential routes for traveling from onelocation to another based on a type of transportation (e.g., driving,biking, sailing, flying, etc.).

The travel time estimation module 134 may map a plurality of possibleroutes from the provider location to the request location and generatean estimated arrival time for each of the potential mapped routes. Thetravel time estimation module 134 may select the fastest route and/orthe most probable route for each of the providers and the correspondingestimated travel time for that route as the estimated travel time forthe provider. The travel time estimation module 134 may incorporatecurrent traffic conditions, road closures, weather conditions, and anyother relevant travel time related information to calculate an estimatedarrival time for the provider. The estimated arrival time may also becalculated by taking an average of the arrival time of each of themapped routes, selecting the estimated arrival time for the fastestroute, receiving a selection of one of the potential routes by theprovider, identifying the route being taken based on the route beingused by the provider, and/or through any other suitable method. If theprovider makes a wrong turn and/or follows a different route than thatcalculated by the travel time estimation module 134, the travel timeestimation module 134 may obtain the updated location of the providercomputing device and recalculate the possible routes and estimatedarrival times. As such, the estimated travel times may be updated astravel and road conditions, weather, etc. are updated. Accordingly, thetravel time estimation module 134 may determine a navigation routeassociated with the request location and an estimated travel time foreach of the providers. Further, the estimated time may be determinedthrough any suitable method including taking an average of multipleroutes, selecting the fastest route, adding additional cushion time whencertainty is low for the estimate of the time, etc. Accordingly, thetravel time estimation module 134 may determine an estimated travel timefor each of the available providers in the area that may potentiallymatch the request.

Additionally, the travel time estimation module 134 may determine anarrival time for the requestor. The arrival time for the requestor maybe dependent on a travel time as well as a request time that may havebeen provided in the request. For example, the travel time may bedetermined by determining an estimated travel time from the currentlocation of the requestor to the request location. The travel time maybe estimated by searching the requestor information data store 136A forprevious time estimates associated with the route and/or the historicalride data store 136C for relevant travel times associated with theroute. The requestor travel time may be determined based on walkingspeed and may use the navigation data store 136D to identify the traveltime associated with walking from different locations. Additionally,where the requestor is located in a building, the travel time estimatemay incorporate average travel times for requestors in those buildingsto leave the building in order to improve the accuracy of the timeestimate. Additionally, the requestor arrival time may have a requesttime component that is dictated by a delay input by the user into theapplication upon requesting the ride. For example, the requestor mayneed another 10 minutes before they are ready to leave but may requestthe ride so that they know they will be matched with a provider uponbeing ready to leave. Accordingly, the requestor may request that theride be scheduled for 10 minutes, an hour, a day, or any other relevanttime in the future. Accordingly, the arrival time may have both a traveltime and a request time component.

In some embodiments, the travel time and the request time may be addedtogether or may be used separately. For example, if the request is for10 minutes away and is for a location near the user the requestorarrival time may just be the 10 minute wait. However, if the user asksfor a scheduled ride at a request location that is down the block andthe system determines that the user is not walking toward the requestlocation when they should have already left, the travel time can beadded to the request time as well to ensure an accurate match.

Additionally, in some embodiments, the travel time estimation module 134may obtain all the travel estimates for the providers and the requestorby requesting estimates from a third party mapping service. For example,the travel time estimation module 134 may call an API associated withthe third party mapping service such that a request location, currentlocation of the requestor, current locations of the providers, and therequest time are provided to the third party mapping service. Themapping service may perform the actual estimation of the routes andreturn the estimates to the travel time estimation module 134 for use inselecting a provider for the match. Either way, the travel timeestimation module 134 may return the travel time estimates for theavailable providers and the requestor to the ride matching module 133for further match processing.

The ride matching module 133 may then provide the estimated travel timesfor the providers and the requestor to the provider selection module135. The provider selection module 135 may obtain the estimated traveltimes and may select one or more providers that should be matched withthe request. For example, the provider selection module 135 may applythe estimated travel time of the providers and the estimated arrivaltime of the requestor to generate a dynamic provider eligibility modelas described in reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B above. Accordingly, theprovider selection module 135 may generate a dynamic providereligibility model that incorporates both the estimated requestor arrivaltime and the estimated provider times of each of the providers toidentify those available providers that are eligible for a match. Thus,as described above, the provider selection module 135 may identify thoseprovider travel times that are more than the requestor arrival time butless than a threshold travel time in order to identify eligibleavailable providers to match to the request. The provider selectionmodule 135 may then select a subset of the eligible available providersand select one of the providers based on system efficiency, rankings,route, arrival time, and/or any other suitable information that can beused for matching. For example, two available providers may beidentified as eligible for a request where one of the providers istraveling away from the request location while the other is travelingtoward the request location. The provider selection module 135 mayselect the provider that is traveling toward the request locationbecause it causes less driving, fewer turns, safer driving, and all theother benefits of allowing providers to maintain their current directionof travel.

Additionally, in some embodiments, the provider selection module 135 mayperform available provider prediction to ensure that the best possiblematch is being made. For instance, the provider selection module 135 mayobtain an available provider rate associated with the request locationfrom a historical ride data store 136C that may indicate the historicalrate of available providers coming online near the request location. Forexample, some areas may have a high rate of providers coming onlineduring particular times that the ride matching system may use to predictavailable providers near the request location. For requests that haverelatively large requestor arrival times outstanding (e.g., 5+ minutes)and a high rate of predicted available providers, the system may delaymatching to an eligible provider even if there are multiple providersthat are available and eligible for a request in order to ensure thatthe a more efficient system match does not arise. Additionally, the ridehistory data store 136C may be consulted for existing rides that haveproviders that will be dropping off requestors in the area before therequestor arrival time is up. For instance, if a request is received fora busy area where a number of different providers with requestors aredropping off previously matched requestors and/or where new providersare known to become active during the time frame of the requestorarrival time, the provider selection module 135 may delay matching tosee if a provider becomes available in the area that is closer than theexisting eligible providers for the request. The ride matching modulemay repeat the process and monitor the status of the available andmatched providers in the area along with the progress of the requestortoward the request location to ensure that a well-matched and eligibleprovider is matched to the request before the requestor arrives at therequest location. Accordingly, by tracking and monitoring systemactivity as well as using estimated arrival times for the providers andrequestor over time, the system can more efficiently and effectivelymatch provider resources with requestor resources to ensure the mostefficient matching of resources.

The ride matching module 133 may provide the ride request to theprovider interface 132 with the provider contact information or provideridentifier so that the ride request may be sent to one or more availableproviders. The ride matching module 133 may send the ride request and/orthe information from the ride request to one or more of the selectedavailable providers to determine whether the available providers areinterested in accepting the ride request. The one or more availableproviders may receive the ride request through the provider application151 of the provider computing device 150, may evaluate the request, andmay accept or deny the request by providing an input through theprovider application 151. A ride response message may be sent to theride matching system 130 indicating whether a ride was accepted andincluding a provider identifier, a location of the provider, and/or anyother suitable information to allow the ride matching system 130 toprocess the response. Alternatively, the provider may ignore the requestand after a predetermined period of time, the request may be considereddenied and a corresponding ride response message may be sent to the ridematching system 130. In some embodiments, no response may be sent unlessa ride request is accepted and the ride will be assumed to be deniedunless a response is received from the provider. In other embodiments,no response is necessary and the ride may be immediately accepted. Anindicator, flag, and/or other information may be passed back to the ridematching system to assure the system that the provider computing devicereceived the request.

The ride matching module 133 may receive the ride response, evaluatewhether the provider accepted or declined the request, and may eitherfind additional available providers for the request (if declined) ordetermine the ride request has been accepted and send matched rideinformation to the requestor computing device 120 and the providercomputing device 150. The matched ride information may include providerinformation, requestor information, the pick-up location, the currentlocation of the provider computing device, the current location of therequestor computing device, an estimated time of arrival for theprovider, and/or any other suitable information to allow the requestorand the provider to complete the requested service. The ride matchingmodule 133 may update the historical ride data store 136C with thecorresponding matched ride information for the matched ride.Accordingly, the ride matching module may perform more efficient andeffective matching of requests with providers.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary flow diagram 600 of a method formatching requests using dynamic provider eligibility models, inaccordance with embodiments of the present techniques. At step 602, theride matching system receives a ride request from a requestor computingdevice. The ride request may include a request location (i.e., pick-uplocation) for the ride request, a request time, a requestor identifier,a requestor computing device location, and/or any other relevantinformation associated with the ride request and/or requestor.

At step 604, the ride matching system determines a requestor arrivaltime for the request. As described above, the requestor arrival time maybe determined based on a combination of the request location and therequest time provided in the request. The current location of therequestor computing device may also be used to determine a travel timeto the request location. Accordingly, the ride matching system maydetermine an arrival time for the requestor to the request location.

At step 606, the ride matching system determines whether the requestorcomputing device has arrived at the request location and/or if therequest time has been met such that an immediate match should be made tothe closest provider computing device to the requestor. For example, insome embodiments, the request may have an immediate request time and therequestor may already be located at or near the request location and thesystem may immediately match the closest provider.

At step 608, the ride matching system determines that the requestor ispresent at the request location and is available and thus, determinesthe closest provider to match with the request. The best provider matchmay be made using any suitable criteria including rating, existingtravel route, and/or any other suitable information.

At step 610, the ride matching system determines that the requestor hasnot arrived at the request location and/or that the requestor arrivaltime is large enough such that the requestor is not available.Accordingly, the ride matching system may determine estimated traveltimes for providers within a geographic region proximate to the requestlocation. As described above, the estimated travel times may bedetermined through any suitable process including mapping all possibleroutes to the request location and selecting the route with the fastestroute to the request location, taking an average of the times ofmultiple routes, and/or through any other suitable method. Additionally,a third party mapping service may be used to identify estimated traveltimes for each of the available providers near the request location.

At step 612, the ride matching system may use the estimated travel timesto generate a dynamic model of travel times for matching the providersby first identifying providers with estimated travel times that aregreater than the requestor arrival time. Accordingly, any providers thatmay arrive before the requestor's arrival time are not eligible formatching.

At step 614, the ride matching system may further build the dynamicmodel by identifying a subset of the available providers from step 612that have estimated travel times that are lower than a threshold traveltime for the request location. The threshold travel time may be presetfor the request location, the region of the request, based on providers,based on the requestor, and/or through any other suitable manner.Additionally, note that the order of steps 612 and 614 may be switchedsuch that the threshold travel time limitation is applied before therequestor arrival time limitation is applied.

At step 616, the ride matching system may determine a predicted provideravailability for the request location and the request time in order topredict the number of available providers that may become available inthe area. For example, the ride matching system may identify thoseproviders with drop-offs near the request location that may occur beforethe requestor arrival time and may use these potentially availableproviders to forecast and/or predict additional available providers thatmay become available before a match is necessary. Further, provideractivation rates in the area and the present supply of potentialproviders may all be factored into the predication to determine whetherto match an eligible provider with the request or to wait for othercloser providers to become available before the requestor arrives.Accordingly, the ride matching system may delay in matching an eligibleprovider with the request to ensure the most efficient match possible.

At step 618, the ride matching system may determine whether matching therequest with one or more eligible providers increases the systemefficiency or if the ride matching system should wait for the requestorarrival time to decrease, thus making more eligible provider matchesavailable. The ride matching system may also wait for additionaleligible providers to become available due to drop-offs frompre-existing matched rides or movement into the eligibility zone of thedynamic eligibility model. Accordingly, the ride matching system maydetermine the predicted provider availability for the request based onthe requestor arrival time and determine whether an eligible matchshould be made or if the system should wait for additional availableproviders to become eligible. If the ride matching system determinesthat matching a provider would not increase the system efficiency basedon the predicated availability, the ride matching system may return tostep 604 and repeat the process until a match is made.

At step 620, the ride matching system determines that the matchincreases the system efficiency and thus, the ride matching sends theride request to the selected available provider computing device. Theride request may include the request location, requestor information,and/or any other relevant information to allow the provider to identifywhether they want to accept or decline the ride request. The providermay review the ride request, accept the request, and send a rideresponse including an indicator that the provider accepts the riderequest. The provider computing device may receive or generate anavigation route to the request location and may start to travel towardthe request location.

Note that although the present example focuses on on-demand ride-sharingapplications, any suitable service may be performed using similarfunctionality. For example, delivery of services may have a similarprocess implemented to find the location of delivery of the service.

FIG. 7 shows a requestor/provider management environment 700, inaccordance with various embodiments. As shown in FIG. 7, a managementsystem 702 can be configured to provide various services to requestorand provider devices. Management system 702 can run one or more servicesor software applications, including identity management services 704,location services 706, ride services 708, or other services. Althoughthree services are shown as being provided by management system 702,more or fewer services may be provided in various implementations. Invarious embodiments, management system 702 may include one or moregeneral purpose computers, server computers, clustered computingsystems, cloud-based computing systems, or any other computing systemsor arrangements of computing systems. Management system 702 may beconfigured to run any or all of the services and/or softwareapplications described with respect to various embodiments of thepresent techniques described herein. In some embodiments, managementsystem 702 can run any appropriate operating system as well as variousserver applications, such as common gateway interface (CGI) servers,JAVA® servers, hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) servers, filetransfer protocol (FTP) servers, database servers, etc.

Identity management services 704 may include various identity services,such as access management and authorization services for requestors andproviders when interacting with management system 702. This may include,e.g., authenticating the identity of providers and determining that theproviders are authorized to provide services through management system702. Similarly, requestors' identities may be authenticated to determinewhether the requestor is authorized to receive the requested servicesthrough management system 702. Identity management services 704 may alsocontrol access to provider and requestor data maintained by managementsystem 702, such as driving and/or ride histories, personal data, orother user data. Location services 706 may include navigation and/ortraffic management services and user interfaces, or other locationservices.

In various embodiments, ride services 708 may include ride matching andmanagement services to connect a requestor to a provider. Ride services708 may include a user interface and or may receive data from requestorsand providers through applications executing on their respectivedevices. Ride services 708 may, e.g., confirm the identity of requestorsand providers using identity management services 704, and determine thateach user is authorized for the requested ride service. In someembodiments, ride services 708 can identify an appropriate providerusing a location obtained from a requestor and location services 706 toidentify, e.g., a closest provider. As such, ride services 708 canmanage the distribution and allocation of provider and requestorresources, consistent with embodiments described herein.

Management system 702 can connect to various devices through network 710and 712. Networks 710, 712 can include any network configured to sendand/or receive data communications using various communicationprotocols, such as AppleTalk, transmission control protocol/Internetprotocol (TCP/IP), Internet packet exchange (IPX), systems networkarchitecture (SNA), etc. In some embodiments, networks 710, 712 caninclude local area networks (LAN), such as Ethernet, Token-Ring or otherLANs. Networks 710, 712 can include a wide-area network and/or theInternet. In some embodiments, networks 710, 712 can include VPNs(virtual private networks), PSTNs (a public switched telephonenetworks), infra-red networks, or any wireless network, includingnetworks implementing the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, Bluetooth®,Bluetooth® Low Energy, NFC and/or any other wireless protocol. Invarious embodiments, networks 710, 712 can include a mobile network,such as a mobile telephone network, cellular network, satellite network,or other mobile network. Networks 710, 712 may be the same ascommunication network 170 in FIG. 1. In some embodiments, networks 710,712 may each include a combination of networks described herein or othernetworks as are known to one of ordinary skill in the art.

Users may then utilize one or more services provided by managementsystem 702 using applications executing on provider and requestordevices. As shown in FIG. 7, provider computing devices 714, 716, 718,and/or 720 may include mobile devices (e.g., an iPhone®, an iPad®,mobile telephone, tablet computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA)),wearable devices (e.g., head mounted displays, etc.), thin clientdevices, gaming consoles, or other devices configured to communicateover one or more networks 710, 712. Each provider or requestor devicecan execute various operating systems (e.g., Android, iOS, etc.) andconfigured to communicate over the Internet, Blackberry® messenger,short message service (SMS), email, and various other messagingapplications and/or communication protocols. The requestor and providercomputing devices can include general purpose computers (e.g., personalcomputers, laptop computers, or other computing devices executingoperating systems such as macOS®, Windows®, Linux®, various UNIX® orUNIX- or Linux-based operating systems, or other operating systems). Insome embodiments, provider computing device 714 can include avehicle-integrated computing device, such as a vehicle navigationsystem, or other computing device integrated with the vehicle itself.

In some embodiments, provider computing device 718 can include aprovider communication device configured to communicate with users, suchas drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and other users. In someembodiments, provider communication device 718 can communicate directlywith management system 702 or through another provider computing device,such as provider computing device 716. In some embodiments, a requestorcomputing device can communicate 726 directly with providercommunication device 718 over a peer-to-peer connection, Bluetoothconnection, NFC connection, ad hoc wireless network, or any othercommunication channel or connection. Although particular devices areshown as communicating with management system 702 over networks 710 and712, in various embodiments, management system 702 can expose aninterface, such as an application programming interface (API) or serviceprovider interface (SPI) to enable various third parties which may serveas an intermediary between end users and management system 702.

Although requestor/provider management environment 700 is shown withfour provider devices and two requestor devices, any number of devicesmay be supported. The various components shown and described herein maybe implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or combinations thereof.Although one embodiment of a requestor/provider management environmentis depicted in FIG. 7, this is merely one implementation and not meantto be limiting.

FIG. 8 shows a data collection and application management environment800, in accordance with various embodiments. As shown in FIG. 8,management system 802 may be configured to collect data from variousdata collection devices 804 through a data collection interface 806. Asdiscussed above, management system 802 may include one or more computersand/or servers or any combination thereof. Data collection devices 804may include, but are not limited to, user devices (including providerand requestor computing devices, such as those discussed above),provider communication devices, laptop or desktop computers, vehicledata (e.g., from sensors integrated into or otherwise connected tovehicles), ground-based or satellite-based sources (e.g., location data,traffic data, weather data, etc.), or other sensor data (e.g., roadwayembedded sensors, traffic sensors, etc.). Data collection interface 806can include, e.g., an extensible device framework configured to supportinterfaces for each data collection device. In various embodiments, datacollection interface 806 can be extended to support new data collectiondevices as they are released and/or to update existing interfaces tosupport changes to existing data collection devices. In variousembodiments, data collection devices may communicate with datacollection interface 806 over one or more networks. The networks mayinclude any network or communication protocol as would be recognized byone of ordinary skill in the art, including those networks discussedabove.

As shown in FIG. 8, data received from data collection devices 804 canbe stored in data store 808. Data store 808 can include one or more datastores, such as databases, object storage systems and services,cloud-based storage services, and other data stores. For example,various data stores may be implemented on a non-transitory storagemedium accessible to management system 802, such as historical datastore 810, ride data store 812, and user data store 814. Data stores 808can be local to management system 802, or remote and accessible over anetwork, such as those networks discussed above or a storage-areanetwork or other networked storage system. In various embodiments,historical data 810 may include historical traffic data, weather data,request data, road condition data, or any other data for a given regionor regions received from various data collection devices. Ride data 812may include route data, request data, timing data, and other riderelated data, in aggregate and/or by requestor or provider. User data814 may include user account data, preferences, location history, andother user-specific data. Although particular data stores are shown, anydata collected and/or stored according to the various embodimentsdescribed herein may be stored in data stores 808.

As shown in FIG. 8, an application interface 816 can be provided bymanagement system 802 to enable various apps 818 to access data and/orservices available through management system 802. Apps 818 can run onvarious user devices (including provider and requestor computingdevices, such as those discussed above) and/or may include cloud-basedor other distributed apps configured to run across various devices(e.g., computers, servers, or combinations thereof). Apps 818 mayinclude, e.g., aggregation and/or reporting apps which may utilize data808 to provide various services (e.g., third-party ride request andmanagement apps). In various embodiments, application interface 816 caninclude an API and/or SPI enabling third party development of apps 818.In some embodiments, application interface 816 may include a webinterface, enabling web-based access to data 808 and/or servicesprovided by management system 802. In various embodiments, apps 818 mayrun on devices configured to communicate with application interface 816over one or more networks. The networks may include any network orcommunication protocol as would be recognized by one of ordinary skillin the art, including those networks discussed above, in accordance withan embodiment of the present disclosure.

Although a particular implementation of environment 800 is shown in FIG.8, this is for illustration purposes only and not intended to belimited. In some embodiments, environment 800 may include fewer or morecomponents, as would be recognized by one or ordinary skill in the art.

FIGS. 9A-9C show an example provider communication device 1500 inaccordance with various embodiments. As shown in FIG. 9A, a front view902 of provider communication device 900 shows a front display 904. Insome embodiments, front display 904 may include a secondary region orseparate display 906. As shown in FIG. 9A, the front display may includevarious display technologies including, but not limited to, one or moreliquid crystal displays (LCDs), one or more arrays of light emittingdiodes (LEDs), or other display technologies. In some embodiments, thefront display may include a cover that divides the display into multipleregions. In some embodiments, separate displays may be associated witheach region. The front display 904 can be configured to show colors,patterns, color patterns, or other identifying information to requestorsand other users external to a provider vehicle. In some embodiments, thesecondary region or separate display 906 may be configured to displaythe same, or contrasting, information as front display 904.

As shown in FIG. 9B, a rear view 908 of provider communication device900 shows a rear display 910. Rear display 910, as with front display904, rear display 910 may include various display technologiesincluding, but not limited to, one or more liquid crystal displays(LCDs), one or more arrays of light emitting diodes (LEDs), or otherdisplay technologies. The rear display may be configured to displayinformation to the provider, the requestor, or other users internal to aprovider vehicle. In some embodiments, rear display 910 may beconfigured to provide information to users external to the providervehicle who are located behind the provider vehicle. As further shown inFIG. 9B, provider communication device may include a power button 912 orother switch which can be used to turn on or off the providercommunication device. In various embodiments, power button 912 may be ahardware button or switch that physically controls whether power isprovided to provider communication device 900. Alternatively, powerbutton 912 may be a soft button that initiates a startup/shutdownprocedure managed by software and/or firmware instructions. In someembodiments, provider communication device 900 may not include a powerbutton 912. Additionally, provider communication device may include oneor more light features 914 (such as one or more LEDs or other lightsources) configured to illuminate areas adjacent to the providercommunication device 900. In some embodiments, provider communicationdevice 900 can include a connector to enable a provider computing deviceto be connected to the provider communication device 900. In someembodiments, power may be provided to the provider communication devicethrough connector 916.

FIG. 9C shows a block diagram of provider computing device 900. As shownin FIG. 9C, provider communication device can include a processor 918.Processor 918 can control information displayed on rear display 910 andfront display 904. As noted, each display can display information todifferent users, depending on the positioning of the users and theprovider communication device. In some embodiments, display data 920 caninclude stored display patterns, sequences, colors, text, or other datato be displayed on the front and/or rear display. In some embodiments,display data 920 can be a buffer, storing display data as it is receivedfrom a connected provider computing device. In some embodiments, displaydata 920 can include a hard disk drive, solid state drive, memory, orother storage device including information from a management system. Insome embodiments, lighting controller 922 can manage the colors and/orother lighting displayed by light features 914. In some embodiments,communication component 924 can manage networking or other communicationbetween the provider communication device 900 and one or more networkingcomponents or other computing devices. In various embodiments,communication component 924 can be configured to communicate over Wi-Fi,Bluetooth, NFC, RF, or any other wired or wireless communication networkor protocol. In some embodiments, provider communication device 900 caninclude an input/output system 926 configured to provide output inaddition to that provided through the displays and/or to receive inputsfrom users. For example, I/O system 926 can include an image capturedevice configured to recognize motion or gesture-based inputs from auser. Additionally, or alternatively, I/O system 926 can include anaudio device configured to provide audio outputs (such as alerts,instructions, or other information) to users and/or receive audioinputs, such as audio commands, which may be interpreted by a voicerecognition system or other command interface. In some embodiments, I/Osystem may include one or more input or output ports, such as USB(universal serial bus) ports, lightning connector ports, or other portsenabling users to directly connect their devices to the providercommunication device (e.g., to exchange data, verify identityinformation, provide power, etc.).

FIG. 10 shows an example computer system 1000, in accordance withvarious embodiments. In various embodiments, computer system 1000 may beused to implement any of the systems, devices, or methods describedherein. In some embodiments, computer system 1000 may correspond to anyof the various devices described herein, including, but not limited, tomobile devices, tablet computing devices, wearable devices, personal orlaptop computers, vehicle-based computing devices, or other devices orsystems described herein. As shown in FIG. 10, computer system 1000 caninclude various subsystems connected by a bus 1002. The subsystems mayinclude an I/O device subsystem 1004, a display device subsystem 1006,and a storage subsystem 1010 including one or more computer readablestorage media 1008. The subsystems may also include a memory subsystem1012, a communication subsystem 1020, and a processing subsystem 1022.

In system 1000, bus 1002 facilitates communication between the varioussubsystems. Although a single bus 1002 is shown, alternative busconfigurations may also be used. Bus 1002 may include any bus or othercomponent to facilitate such communication as is known to one ofordinary skill in the art. Examples of such bus systems may include alocal bus, parallel bus, serial bus, bus network, and/or multiple bussystems coordinated by a bus controller. Bus 1002 may include one ormore buses implementing various standards such as Parallel ATA, serialATA, Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Extended ISA (EISA) bus,MicroChannel Architecture (MCA) bus, Peripheral Component Interconnect(PCI) bus, or any other architecture or standard as is known in the art.

In some embodiments, I/O device subsystem 1004 may include various inputand/or output devices or interfaces for communicating with such devices.Such devices may include, without limitation, a touch screen or othertouch-sensitive input device, a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, a motionsensor or other movement-based gesture recognition device, a scrollwheel, a click wheel, a dial, a button, a switch, audio recognitiondevices configured to receive voice commands, microphones, image capturebased devices such as eye activity monitors configured to recognizecommands based on eye movement or blinking, and other types of inputdevices. I/O device subsystem 1004 may also include identification orauthentication devices, such as fingerprint scanners, voiceprintscanners, iris scanners, or other biometric sensors or detectors. Invarious embodiments, I/O device subsystem may include audio outputdevices, such as speakers, media players, or other output devices.

Computer system 1000 may include a display device subsystem 1006.Display device subsystem may include one or more lights, such as an oneor more light emitting diodes (LEDs), LED arrays, a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD) or plasma display or other flat-screen display, a touchscreen, a head-mounted display or other wearable display device, aprojection device, a cathode ray tube (CRT), and any other displaytechnology configured to visually convey information. In variousembodiments, display device subsystem 1006 may include a controllerand/or interface for controlling and/or communicating with an externaldisplay, such as any of the above-mentioned display technologies.

As shown in FIG. 10, system 1000 may include storage subsystem 1010including various computer readable storage media 1008, such as harddisk drives, solid state drives (including RAM-based and/or flash-basedSSDs), or other storage devices. In various embodiments, computerreadable storage media 1008 can be configured to store software,including programs, code, or other instructions, that is executable by aprocessor to provide functionality described herein. In someembodiments, storage system 1010 may include various data stores orrepositories or interface with various data stores or repositories thatstore data used with embodiments described herein. Such data stores mayinclude, databases, object storage systems and services, data lakes orother data warehouse services or systems, distributed data stores,cloud-based storage systems and services, file systems, and any otherdata storage system or service. In some embodiments, storage system 1010can include a media reader, card reader, or other storage interface tocommunicate with one or more external and/or removable storage devices.In various embodiments, computer readable storage media 1008 can includeany appropriate storage medium or combination of storage media. Forexample, computer readable storage media 1008 can include, but is notlimited to, any one or more of random access memory (RAM), read onlymemory (ROM), electronically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flashmemory or other memory technology, optical storage (e.g., CD-ROM,digital versatile disk (DVD), Blu-ray® disk or other optical storagedevice), magnetic storage (e.g., tape drives, cassettes, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices). In some embodiments,computer readable storage media can include data signals or any othermedium through which data can be sent and/or received.

Memory subsystem 1012 can include various types of memory, includingRAM, ROM, flash memory, or other memory. Memory 1012 can include SRAM(static RAM) or DRAM (dynamic RAM). In some embodiments, memory 1012 caninclude a BIOS (basic input/output system) or other firmware configuredto manage initialization of various components during, e.g., startup. Asshown in FIG. 10, memory 1012 can include applications 1014 andapplication data 1010. Applications 1014 may include programs, code, orother instructions, that can be executed by a processor. Applications1014 can include various applications such as browser clients, locationmanagement applications, ride management applications, data managementapplications, and any other application. Application data 1016 caninclude any data produced and/or consumed by applications 1014. Memory1012 can additionally include operating system 1018, such as macOS®,Windows®, Linux®, various UNIX® or UNIX- or Linux-based operatingsystems, or other operating systems.

System 1000 can also include a communication subsystem 1020 configuredto facilitate communication between system 1000 and various externalcomputer systems and/or networks (such as the Internet, a local areanetwork (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a mobile network, or any othernetwork). Communication subsystem 1020 can include hardware and/orsoftware to enable communication over various wired (such as Ethernet orother wired communication technology) or wireless communicationchannels, such as radio transceivers to facilitate communication overwireless networks, mobile or cellular voice and/or data networks, WiFinetworks, or other wireless communication networks. For example, thecommunication network is shown as communication network 170 in FIG. 1.Additionally, or alternatively, communication subsystem 1020 can includehardware and/or software components to communicate with satellite-basedor ground-based location services, such as GPS (global positioningsystem). In some embodiments, communication subsystem 1020 may include,or interface with, various hardware or software sensors. The sensors maybe configured to provide continuous or and/or periodic data or datastreams to a computer system through communication subsystem 1020

As shown in FIG. 10, processing system 1022 can include one or moreprocessors or other devices operable to control computing system 1000.Such processors can include single core processors 1024, multi coreprocessors, which can include central processing units (CPUs), graphicalprocessing units (GPUs), application specific integrated circuits(ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs) or any other generalized orspecialized microprocessor or integrated circuit. Various processorswithin processing system 1022, such as processors 1024 and 1026, may beused independently or in combination depending on application.

Various other configurations are may also be used, with particularelements that are depicted as being implemented in hardware may insteadbe implemented in software, firmware, or a combination thereof. One ofordinary skill in the art will recognize various alternatives to thespecific embodiments described herein.

The specification and figures describe particular embodiments which areprovided for ease of description and illustration and are not intendedto be restrictive. Embodiments may be implemented to be used in variousenvironments without departing from the spirit and scope of thedisclosure.

The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in thecontext of describing the disclosed embodiments (especially in thecontext of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both thesingular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearlycontradicted by context. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,”and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning“including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. The term“connected” is to be construed as partly or wholly contained within,attached to, or joined together, even if there is something intervening.Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as ashorthand method of referring individually to each separate valuefalling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein and eachseparate value is incorporated into the specification as if it wereindividually recited herein. All methods described herein can beperformed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein orotherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and allexamples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, isintended merely to better illuminate embodiments of the disclosure anddoes not pose a limitation on the scope of the disclosure unlessotherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construedas indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice ofthe disclosure.

Disjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, or Z,”unless specifically stated otherwise, is intended to be understoodwithin the context as used in general to present that an item, term,etc., may be either X, Y, or Z, or any combination thereof (e.g., X, Y,and/or Z). Thus, such disjunctive language is not generally intended to,and should not, imply that certain embodiments require at least one ofX, at least one of Y, or at least one of Z to each be present.

Preferred embodiments of this disclosure are described herein, includingthe best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the disclosure.Variations of those preferred embodiments may become apparent to thoseof ordinary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description. Theinventors expect skilled artisans to employ such variations asappropriate and the inventors intend for the disclosure to be practicedotherwise than as specifically described herein. Accordingly, thisdisclosure includes all modifications and equivalents of the subjectmatter recited in the claims appended hereto as permitted by applicablelaw. Moreover, any combination of the above-described elements in allpossible variations thereof is encompassed by the disclosure unlessotherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context.

All references, including publications, patent applications, andpatents, cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the sameextent as if each reference were individually and specifically indicatedto be incorporated by reference and were set forth in its entiretyherein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: at least one processor; andat least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storinginstructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor,cause the system to: receive transport request information associatedwith a requestor computing device, the transport request informationincluding a request location; determine a requestor location associatedwith the requestor computing device; determine a requestor arrival timeto the request location based on a difference between the requestorlocation and the request location; determine a set of availableproviders based on the requestor arrival time to the request location,the set of available providers having a travel time to the requestlocation that is greater than the requestor arrival time; and send thetransport request information associated with the requestor computingdevice to a provider computing device associated with a provider fromthe set of available providers.
 2. The system of claim 1, whereindetermining the requestor arrival time to the request location based onthe difference between the requestor location and the request locationcomprises: generating a navigation route from the requestor location ofthe requestor computing device to the request location; and determiningan estimated travel time for the navigation route based on historicaltravel times associated with the navigation route, wherein the requestorarrival time to the request location is based on the estimated traveltime for the navigation route.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein thetransport request information includes a request time and whereindetermining the requestor arrival time to the request location based onthe difference between the requestor location and the request locationcomprises: determining a difference between a current time and therequest time; determining the difference between the current time andthe request time is greater than the estimated travel time for thenavigation route; and generating the requestor arrival time based on thedifference between the current time and the request time.
 4. The systemof claim 1, wherein determining the set of available providers based onthe requestor arrival time to the request location comprises determiningthat each of the set of available providers is associated with a traveltime to the request location that is less than or equal to a maximumtravel time threshold.
 5. The system of claim 1, further comprisinginstructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, furthercause the system to: determine a predicted provider availability for therequest location based on the requestor arrival time to the requestlocation; detect, based on the predicted provider availability, that anadditional provider which is currently unavailable is predicted tobecome eligible for matching prior to the requestor arrival time to therequest location; and delay a determination of the set of availableproviders until the additional provider becomes eligible.
 6. The systemof claim 1, wherein determining the set of available providers based onthe requestor arrival time to the request location comprises:identifying a set of available provider computing devices associatedwith the request location, the set of available provider computingdevices matching request criteria of the request, and the set ofavailable provider computing devices being located within a thresholddistance of the request location; determining a navigation route to therequest location for each of the set of available provider computingdevices; and generating, for each of the set of available providercomputing devices, an estimated travel time based on the navigationroute and road conditions of the navigation route; and wherein sendingthe transport request information to the provider computing device isbased on an estimated travel time corresponding to the providercomputing device associated with the provider.
 7. A method comprising:receiving, by a dynamic transportation matching system, transportrequest information associated with a requestor computing device, thetransport request information including a request location; determining,by the dynamic transportation matching system, a requestor locationassociated with the requestor computing device; determining, by thedynamic transportation matching system, a requestor arrival time to therequest location based on a difference between the requestor locationand the request location; determining, by the dynamic transportationmatching system, a set of available providers based on the requestorarrival time to the request location, the set of available providershaving a travel time to the request location that is greater than therequestor arrival time; sending, by the dynamic transportation matchingsystem, the transport request information associated with the requestorcomputing device to a provider computing device associated with aprovider from the set of available providers.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein determining the requestor arrival time to the request locationbased on the difference between the requestor location and the requestlocation comprises: generating a navigation route from a currentlocation of the requestor computing device to the request location;determining an estimated travel time for the navigation route based onhistorical travel times associated with the navigation route, whereinthe requestor arrival time to the request location is based on theestimated travel time for the navigation route.
 9. The method of claim8, wherein the transport request information includes a request time andwherein determining the requestor arrival time to the request locationbased on the difference between the requestor location and the requestlocation further comprises: determining a difference between a currenttime and the request time; determining the difference between thecurrent time and the request time is greater than the estimated traveltime for the navigation route; and generating the requestor arrival timebased on the difference between the current time and the request time.10. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the set of availableproviders based on the requestor arrival time to the request locationfurther comprises determining that each of the set of availableproviders is associated with a travel time to the request location thatis less than or equal to a maximum travel time threshold.
 11. The methodof claim 7, further comprising: determining a predicted provideravailability for the request location based on the requestor arrivaltime to the request location; detecting, based on the predicted provideravailability, that an additional provider that is currently unavailableis predicted to become eligible for matching prior to the requestorarrival time to the request location; and delaying a determination ofthe set of available providers until the additional provider becomeseligible.
 12. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the set ofavailable providers based on the requestor arrival time to the requestlocation comprises: identifying a set of available provider computingdevices associated with the request location, the set of availableprovider computing devices matching request criteria of the request, andthe set of available provider computing devices being located within athreshold distance of the request location; determining a navigationroute to the request location for each of the set of available providercomputing devices; and generating, for each of the set of availableprovider computing devices, an estimated travel time based on thenavigation route and road conditions of the navigation route; andwherein sending the transport request information to the providercomputing device is based on an estimated travel time corresponding tothe provider computing device associated with the provider.
 13. Themethod of claim 7, further comprising: determining a second requestorarrival time to the request location, wherein the second requestorarrival time is less than the requestor arrival time; determining asecond set of available providers based on the second requestor arrivaltime; and selecting one of the providers from the second set ofavailable providers.
 14. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumcomprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor,cause a computing device to: receive transport request informationassociated with a requestor computing device, the transport requestinformation including a request location; determine a requestor locationassociated with the requestor computing device; determine a requestorarrival time to the request location based on a difference between therequestor location and the request location; determine a set ofavailable providers based on the requestor arrival time to the requestlocation, the set of available providers having a travel time to therequest location that is greater than the requestor arrival time; andsend the transport request information associated with the requestorcomputing device to a provider computing device associated with aprovider from the set of available providers.
 15. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein determining the requestorarrival time to the request location based on the difference between therequestor location and the request location comprises: generating anavigation route from the requestor location of the requestor computingdevice to the request location; and determining an estimated travel timefor the navigation route based on historical travel times associatedwith the navigation route, wherein the requestor arrival time to therequest location is based on the estimated travel time for thenavigation route.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 15, wherein the transport request information includes a requesttime and wherein determining the requestor arrival time to the requestlocation based on the difference between the requestor location and therequest location comprises: determining a difference between a currenttime and the request time; determining the difference between thecurrent time and the request time is greater than the estimated traveltime for the navigation route; and generating the requestor arrival timebased on the difference between the current time and the request time.17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, whereindetermining the set of available providers based on the requestorarrival time to the request location comprises: determining that each ofthe set of available providers is associated with a travel time to therequest location that is less than or equal to a maximum travel timethreshold.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14,further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, further cause the computing device to: determine a predictedprovider availability for the request location based on the requestorarrival time to the request location; detect, based on the predictedprovider availability, that an additional provider which is currentlyunavailable is predicted to become eligible for matching prior to therequestor arrival time to the request location; and delay adetermination of the set of available providers until the additionalprovider becomes eligible.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 14, wherein determining the set of available providersbased on the requestor arrival time to the request location comprises:identifying a set of available provider computing devices associatedwith the request location, the set of available provider computingdevices matching request criteria of the request, and the set ofavailable provider computing devices being located within a thresholddistance of the request location; determining a navigation route to therequest location for each of the set of available provider computingdevices; and generating an estimated travel time based on the navigationroute and road conditions of the navigation route for each of theprovider computing devices; and wherein sending the transport requestinformation to the provider computing device is based on an estimatedtravel time corresponding to the provider computing device associatedwith the provider.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 14, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the atleast one processor, further cause the computing device to: determine asecond requestor arrival time to the request location, wherein thesecond requestor arrival time is less than the requestor arrival time;determine a second set of available providers based on the secondrequestor arrival time; and select one of the providers from the secondset of available providers.